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Monday, October 31, 2005

In preparation for Mid City Artists Open Studios, I am putting one image a day up that will be displayed in my Studio on November 12 & 13. If you see something you like in my virtual gallery, come by and see the real deal. I'll be happy to show you around and discuss my working process. I'll be offering abstract and cityscape paintings, giclee prints and posters. This could be your opportunity to find "a pearl". You can download a Mid City Artists Walking Map here.

Come see what Mid City Artists are offering from their studios in the Mid City District of Washingon, DC. Put it on your calendar today!

The Mid City Artists Fall Open Studios will be held on the weekend of November 12 and 13 from 12-5pm. Many artist studios within walking distance of the Dupont/Logan Circles will be open for visitors. The Mid City Artists participating in November’s Open Studio weekend are Jody Bergstresser, Kristina Bilonick, Tanja Bos, Scott G. Brooks, Robert Cole, Gary Fisher, Freya Grand, Glenn Fry, Craig Kraft, Anne Marchand, Gina Miele, Mark Parascandola, Byron Peck, Brian Petro, Peter Alexander Romero, Nicolas F. Shi, Richard Siegman, John Talkington, Mike Weber, Angela White, Robert Wiener, Christine Williams, and Colin Winterbottom.

This is a unique opportunity to see some of Washington’s most exciting artists in their ‘home environments.’ Visitors can check out the burgeoning local art scene that is finding its focus in the City’s dynamic 14th & U Street Corridor’s, and stop by some of the supporting Galleries and art related businesses that have recently opened in the neighborhood – following the artists into this upscale urban environment. For more information, addresses and a map of the studios, visit www.midcityartists.com

Wayne Trapp the sculptor has worked in stone and steel for years, creating lavish outdoor pieces for corporate clients and smaller more intimate pieces for private clientele. His hands and his shoulders are sore, sensitive, and scarred from sculpting, but he can no more give it up than he can give up breathing. If a fine piece of stone presents itself, if a flash of metal catches his eye or a woman turns her head just so, if the moon is right, well... the dance begins.

The painter emerged full-blown from the stone carver. He took what he could not say in bronze and marble and let it loose with oil and ink on canvas and paper. His oils deliver a feast of color, strokes saturated with childlike curiosity and adult confidence. Not for the meek, nor the abstinent, his work aims at the alive and well, begging appetite, thirst, and desire. With unbridled energy and an insatiable passion for everything that crosses his path, Trapp forever seeks interchange, new ground, and a good time.

In talking to Wayne Trapp today, I got a sense of a gentle soul with boundless energy and passion for his work. He showed me his Japanese Tree House sculpture in polished steel and it is indeed exquisite in craftsmanship and artistic vision. Wayne spoke about his need to keep searching for the unknown. We artists keep growing by embracing what is not knowable. From his writings, "Without the calm, there could be no art in my life. Without the hype, there could be no madness. It is vital to have both. Art is madness--a game we create to feign meaning or reason. It is the ultimate insanity. To know, and to know that you know. It makes one laugh all the time at all things--becoming serious only if we need them to be serious things. A crisis is only such if we need it to happen. Joy and happiness should be the natural way, but just the opposite happens. There seems to be no reason or purpose to life without a struggle. I have never understood this, and now I understand it less."

An avid colorist with warm hues, Wayne is exploring new color palettes. His recent paintings contain energetic strokes, shapes and the introduction of semi-neutral backgrounds on which his fire colors dance.

I am proud to be hanging with this talented soul and I can't wait to see more from this prolific artist.

Anne Marchand with her painting, Raga: Rising, from the "Ellipsis" Series.

Wayne Trapp is one of the premiere contemporary sculptors working today. He specializes in large outdoor metal sculptures that can be seen at museums, hospitals, parks, university campuses and corporations nationwide.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

This is a a story about my sister and brother-in-law, Gladys and Jim Core who are real survivors and troopers on many levels. Their Farm, Taylor's Happy Oaks Farm is located in Folsom, La. Their crops were wiped out as well as over 50 % of their oak trees. Jim told me today that the downed oaks will probably be there long after he is gone. It's still a mess, everywhere long lines to get a to-go meal at places like Kentucky Fried Chicken. Electricity returned 2 weeks ago to their community after 38 days of running on a generator. But as Jim says, "We had to keep things going, the horses and animals needed to be kept alive and we needed to reseed the crops." They and other farming families have opened a small farmers market in nearby Covington, LA to help provide fresh produce to the local community. Some of the New Orleans Market venders are looking at a new farmer's market venue in Gretna, La which is an hour and 15 minutes by truck. Unfortunately, FEMA hasn't come thru with the $2000 check to farmers like Jim who didn't evacuate the hurricane and chose instead to try to protect their crops and animals. To date, Gladys and Jim have been helped with small contributions by Farm-Aid and the Red Cross. Considering that the generator they purchased for $1500 and the gas expense of operating it for 38 days was a small fortune, it's pocket change.

Farmers helping Farmers...

On a compassionate note, Mariquita Farm, a small family CSA Organic Farm near Watsonville, CA has helped the Core's by sending them new seeds to plant and organizing a benefit at the Desiree Cafe in San Francisco. As we speak, the new plants are looking beautiful according to Gladys. Her customers are anxiously awaiting the fresh produce at market.

Mariquita Farm/Hurricane Benefit Dinner at Desiree Cafe in the Presidio for Taylor's Happy Oaks Farm in Louisiana, Friday, October 28th, 2005 at Desiree in San Francisco.

Desiree Cafe and Mariquita Farm in California are contributing to a good cause. Annie and the staff at Desiree are going to cook Andy's Vegetables for a very special benefit meal to help one small, family farm in Louisiana get back on its feet after the hurricanes. For this benefit dinner at Desiree Cafe on 10/28/05. Annie gets her pick of anything and everything our farm can produce. We know that Annie could cook our phonebook and make it taste great, but we're going to make it easy for her by giving her the best ingredients we can grow. Please join us for what promises to be a delightful evening.

The dinner is $45 per person (exclusive of tax and tip) and sittings for 40 people are available at 5:30pm and at 8:30pm. Wine and beer will be available for purchase. Corkage fee $15.

Learn more about Desiree Cafe by visiting their website, we love to eat there! Here is a link to a webform on the DesireeCafe.com website to sign up for this dinner.

My heartfelt thanks go out to Andrew and Julia Griffin of Mariquita Farm and owner Anne Gingrass of Desiree Cafe in San Francisco for their compassionate attention to a small farmers need. - Anne Marchand

By the time Hurricane Katrina reached its shrieking peak at about mid-day on Monday, August 29, Louisiana family farmer Jim Core had already moved beyond agonizing over the losses.

At the peak of the storm, I was just sitting there watching it. I already knew we'd taken a beating. There ain't no use to worry about something you can't control," says Core.

The 65-year-old Core, a fourth generation produce farmer who has worked the same 40 acres near Folsom all his life, has been without utilities close to a month already. The high wind and heavy rain ripped his fall crop from the ground; his greenhouse was left in tatters; plastic mulch was torn up and strewn across his acreage; dozens of trees were toppled, snapped off and tossed into farm fields, making it nearly impossible to cultivate and replant.

"The last of the summer crops we had out there, okra, peppers and eggplant, well it knocked all of them flat," Core says.

Despite the damage, Core and his wife Gladys are determined to hold on.

"We've done it all our lives; ain't going to change horses now," he says in his quiet, but self-confident voice.

It's going to be a challenge, though, because did the storm do incredible damage to his home place, it demolished the Crescent City Farmers Market in New Orleans, where Core, and his wife sold much of their crop. The high-end food markets where Core also sold tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, squash, beets, carrots and other specialty crops have also been lost.

Once the damage to his farm was surveyed, Core sought help through state and federal programs, but was discouraged by what he heard. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross found a way to provide the so-called "MREs", or Meals Ready to Eat, but because they had no serious damage to their home and had not evacuated during the storm the only help they could expect was a small business loan from the federal government. Core was told any help from the state might be three months or more away.

In a desperate bid to find help for his father-in-law, Jack Cousins reached out to Farm Aid for help. He telephoned the 1.800.FARM AID hotline, and working through its' long-time connection to the Louisiana Interchurch Conference, Farm Aid was able to direct $300 in emergency cash assistance to the Cores to help sustain them in their crisis.

Core says he's proud to receive Farm Aid help, although it clearly came nowhere near meeting the tremendous expenses he'd incurred during the storm.

"It's tremendous," says Core of the aid. "I've been following Willie Nelson from the beginning. I even sent some checks to them. Farm families are a scarce animal. Seems like a lot of people are not going to be happy until they eradicate us."

Core, though, is far from eradication. Within days after the storm, he was back in his fields, planting quick growing varieties he could move to market in a hurry.

"I figured in 60 days I could turn a crop as long as we don't get a ton of rain all at once," he says, knowing on the day we spoke with him that Hurricane Rita was bearing down on the Gulf Coast.

Rather than wait for markets in New Orleans to reopen, Core is moving in a different direction.

"I got a hold of folks in Jefferson Parish. They need a good market and I'm going to see if we can start a market down there. I'm going to pursue this thing and see what they can do with it," he says.

"We're coming back all right, and we'll do as good and better," Core declares.

Already things are looking up, he says, as long as he can keep his generators running, his crop irrigated, and the heavy rains away.

"As each day goes by, I can see things getting better. I can walk the fields now and see a little green, which is kind of nice."

Friday, October 21, 2005

A couple of artists friends in Dupont Circle and I walked over to Coldwell Banker on 17th Street to see what the lovely Sondra Arkin and Brian Petro were mixing up.

That's Sondra with her newest encaustic painting, one of her favorites.

WATER/WAX Exhibition sounded intriguing, this duo paired up to each show their work in encaustic painting. The place was a body crush on opening night with wall-to-wall folks enjoying the artwork, the evening and the venue. Coldwell Banker is to be commended as a community business that supports the arts, a real plus for the neighborhood (and a great party to boot). Go see for yourself and buy some art while you’re there.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

After teaching a morning watercolor class and getting imput on a mural design this afternoon, I decided to go check out what G. Byron Peck was doing at Hotel Palomar, a new boutique hotel under construction and opening this Spring on P Street NW in Washington, DC.

G. Byron Peck is always doing cool things in the community. He runs City Arts, Inc., a non profit org. that works with inner city children to train them in mural and mosaic arts. Byron and "his kids" are all over the city creating mosiacs and murals to liven up the community. Tonight the kids were serving up "hard hats" that they painted

in bright designs for a press preview at Hotel Palomar. Seems like Kimpton Hotels has a catchy new concept, Art in Motion, to connect their latest hotel offering with the local community. G. Bryon Peck has reproduced seven of his murals on scrims that are displayed in front of the hotel site on P Street NW. You can see them when you drive or walk by the hotel site.

This may be your only chance to see some of the images since the original murals are located in government buildings. Byron's students created a bright mosaic design that flanks three surfaces around the hotel entrance door. That's Byron in the first picture standing in front of the mosaic.

I went to the press reception and was escorted up to the model hotel room with members of the press.

The furnishings were luxurious and the room spacious. We were told we could buy, not steal, the faux leopard throw for $625. (ha ha) And I'm not sure where to put the decimal point. Alas, the staff didn't know that I am press, writing for my art blog, Painterly Visions. I forgot to include that in my introduction. An annoucement was made in the model Hotel Palomar room, to enjoy ourselves and we would all receive a gift bag when we left. Being infantile when it comes to gift bags, I saw the table of gifts as I was leaving and asked the escort, could I take one? She showed me the door. So much for Art in Motion, I got bagged. No gift bag!

Kimpton Hotels is turning to the arts community to differentiate themselves in the DC marketplace and their Arts in Motion is an innovative inclusion of the arts in their marketing efforts. Other Kimpton Hotels in Washington, DC include Capitol Hill-Hotel George, Logan Circle-Hotel Helix, Dupont Circle-Hotel Madera & Topaz Hotel, Penn Quarter/Downtown-Hotel Monaco and Embassy Row-Hotel Rouge.

www.cityartsdc.org/City Arts, Inc. was founded in 1997 by G. Byron Peck with a mission to enhance and maintain the visual quality of the District of Columbia's urban landscape; to provide inner-city youth with creative alternatives to destructive behavior; and to advance education, awareness, and appreciation for the visual arts. City Arts creates large-scale public murals with the assistance of talented DC youth. A special effort is made to recruit students who live in the neighborhoods where the art works will be featured.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Excerpt from: Delight of Senses: The Indian Way of Seeing It(A Discourse on Indian Theory of Rasa in Relation to Visual Arts)

Senses delight all and have delighted always, but Indian theorists were perhaps the earliest to perceive the delight of senses as the essence of being - a phenomenon of mind sublimating spiritually. Athenians realized the role of emotions but it was confined to mere sorrow - pathos, which, Plato thought, weakened the reason. He hence recommended poets to be dispelled from the Ideal State - the state of his utopian vision, as poets, by rousing emotions, incapacitated its citizens. Aristotle, his best known disciple, defended poets and tragic sentiment. He contended that tragic sentiment, when imitated in a dramatic performance or into a medium, only purged viewer's mind, and with his mind purged of sorrow - pathos, which weakened him, the viewer emerged stronger.

Who was right, Plato or Aristotle, is not the issue here. What matters is the fact that their deliberation did not extend to man's entire world of emotions....As today, this early world too did not so much fear hatred, revenge or violence, or their public expression, as it feared love. It was different with Indian mind. The emotional worlds of its arts and literature also comprised sorrow - pathos, and the Buddhist thought centered primarily on sorrow, which illness, old age, and death bred, but in the broader perception of Indian mind, love and the delight that love inspired, not sorrow, formed the axis at least of its creative endeavor. Even Buddhism did not bar sensuousness in its imagery and art perception. Read more at http://www.exoticindia.com

This article by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of ancient Indian literature. Dr Daljeet is the chief curator of the Visual Arts Gallery at the National Museum of India, New Delhi. They have both collaborated on numerous books on Indian art and culture.

After Hurricane Katrina the city of New Orleans is recovering in different ways.

A tale of two citiesPAULINE ARRILLAGA

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

By PAULINE ARRILLAGAASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW ORLEANS - Seven weeks after the storm, the signs tell the story of two different roads to recovery.

"Help!" "Help!" scream the spray-painted messages still scrawled on the side of a barbershop on the way to the drawbridge separating the Lower 9th Ward from the rest of New Orleans.

Six miles west, in the neighborhood called Uptown, a smiley face peers out from a poster saying, "Creole Creamery Now Open. Eat Ice Cream. Be Happy."

From her porch on South Salcedo Street, Sheila Gregory looks toward the curb and sees a waist-high mound of trash hauled out by Church of Christ volunteers. They carried out Oriental carpets and books sheathed in muck, then began tearing down walls covered floor to ceiling with green-black mold, making a week's worth of progress in a matter of hours.

Over the bridge in the 9th Ward, no volunteers helped Edwin Jackson and his friend, Melanie Slack, as they carried whatever their arms could hold from Jackson's house on Praro Street. The items included his high school yearbook and granddaughters' pictures. Jackson had to talk his way in past a roadblock.

Long before Hurricane Katrina came and went, much more than a drawbridge separated these two neighborhoods and their people. Color, class, misconceptions, fear - differences of the heart and mind, as much as the pocketbook, made these two places two very different "New Orleans."

Now there are other differences. In Uptown, a booming ballet of bulldozers scoops up tree limbs and drywall as workmen in hardhats direct traffic. Homeowners have hired crews to clear out and sanitize houses. Smiles have returned, along with some optimism.

In the 9th Ward, an eerie silence prevails as residents slowly return home. Officials only allowed them back in beginning this past Wednesday, so long as they're gone each night by sundown. A few insurance adjusters roam deserted roads, but there are no humming generators, nor pile after pile of debris awaiting curbside pickup. Tears are still here, and much concern about the future.

There also are differences of opinion regarding how the city should go about starting over and what has happened so far.

In both neighborhoods, people wonder whether the city isn't ignoring them while paying attention to others. And there's a question they share: Will the comeback in New Orleans be fair for all?

Cleanup efforts behind

Their houses are both still standing.

Gregory's is a one-story peach cottage in a middle-class slice of Uptown - nothing nearly so fancy as the columned mansions on either side of the streetcar line along St. Charles Avenue.

Jackson's is a red brick house that once was his father's, with a second story, wrapped in vinyl siding, that he added himself.

Whether they will be saved is another matter.

The water rose shoulder-high inside Gregory's place, washing away the former teacher's prized collection of books: Victorian literature, writings on religion and politics, the vampire stories of Anne Rice.

At Jackson's, the entire first floor was swamped and a telling scar of mold rims the second-floor bedrooms, though the water didn't reach his grandbabies' clothes, still folded on a sofa upstairs, or the smiling portrait of Louis Armstrong on one wall.

Gregory has had time and luck and connections working in her favor.

In the tiny Alabama town where she went after feeling the city, she met a fellow member of the Church of Christ who promised, "I'm gonna help you."

When Uptown residents were told they could return and Gregory arrived back in New Orleans a week ago, Tammany Oaks Church of Christ in nearby Mandeville immediately dispatched a crew of five out-of-state volunteers, including a contractor, to start breaking down her house.

The mold inside had already crept to the ceiling, but getting the walls out so fast might have prevented it from penetrating the frame and the foundation. Gregory calls it "the golden hour" that could make the difference between salvaging her home or razing it.

Jackson lives in the worst-hit section of the worst-hit neighborhood of New Orleans, the northernmost part of the Lower 9th Ward, a neighborhood of poor and middle-class, mostly black residents that was deluged when levees breached. Its streets remain manned by National Guard troops.

A mammoth tree still blocks Jackson's street. An engineer at the University of New Orleans, where he now sleeps, Jackson has driven around town and has seen other homeowners shuffling back and forth from house to street with wheelbarrows filled with debris, and city and government crews picking up trash.

His question: Why not us?

"Excuse the expression," he says, "but they see it as 'that black area.' They're really hoping most of us people don't come back."

Officials with the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, together coordinating debris removal, note many factors have put cleanup efforts behind in the 9th Ward.

Hurricane Rita caused renewed flooding there, which lengthened the search for victims. Only a few days ago, a search team with a cadaver dog was still scouring debris. Environmental samples also are being collected from the muck to test for contaminants, says Corps spokeswoman Mary Beth Hudson.

"It's just very slow getting started in the 9th Ward because of the health and safety aspects," Hudson says, although she adds that city officials directed the Corps to concentrate its efforts on parts of the city that could be more quickly repopulated.

The Corps has removed 15,000 cubic yards of debris, or 500 loads, from the 9th Ward, she says. In New Orleans' 70125 ZIP code - or Gregory's Uptown neighborhood - 49,000 cubic yards have been removed, or 1,345 loads.

"Work is progressing all over the city," Mayor Ray Nagin's spokeswoman, Sally Forman, says. As for those who fear the 9th Ward might be left behind: "Not at all. It will not happen."

State Rep. Charmaine Marchand, who represents the 9th Ward and lives there, understands that flooding and safety concerns have slowed efforts, but she said others, such as residents of Lakeview to the north, were allowed to return home before those in her neighborhood.

"It took me a whole week to get my residents in," she says. "I literally had to fight."

Economic factors at play

Once any neighborhood reopens, money is a factor in its rebirth.

In Uptown, the day after Lyle and Walker Sullivan made it back to their raised cottage on Fontainebleau Drive, Walker, a retired engineer at Entergy, hired a seven-man team that was repairing a neighbor's house. They got to work two days later, after the Sullivans obtained a line of credit from the bank. Forty-eight hours after that, the Sullivans' entire basement was gutted. Old record albums, crystal and books were stacked on a ping pong table in the backyard, Lyle and Walker deciding what to keep or toss.

"We basically wrote them a check from our own pocket," Lyle Sullivan says. "It's expensive to do this," adds Walker.

Downtown New Orleans, the French Quarter and more well-to-do areas such as Uptown got up and running faster not only because the damage was less extensive, the Sullivans say, but also because the city needed to reopen its tourist hub to start rebuilding a tax base so the reconstruction can move on.

"This is where the money is. (The mayor) needs to bring in the money to work out from here," says Lyle.

The cleanup effort, adds Walker, "it's just working its way out."

No one knows that better than Ron Farve and his son-in-law, Silas Bettie. Farve is a sheetrock finisher; Bettie pours concrete. They lived only a few blocks away from each other in the Lower 9th Ward. Farve's house is gone. Bettie's is intact, though the ceiling collapsed and someone else's home - neither man knows whose - lies in pieces in the front yard.

The day their neighborhood reopened, they stood outside Bettie's house with a packed trailer: generator, saws, shovels, hoses and more.

But all this equipment was not to start cleaning out Bettie's place but for jobs they'd lined up in other parts of New Orleans.

"I've still got to live," says Bettie, and living means working. Besides, he can't start filling his curb with ruined possessions until a bulldozer removes the splintered house sitting on top of it. "They ain't working down here - period. I guess they got to choose and pick where they want to start. Why can't you start on this end and start on that end and meet in the middle?"

Farve nods in agreement.

"People say, 'Oh, look at this mess.' I say, at least you have a mess. Believe it or not, we were working for some people today who wanted their yard cleaned. They had grass!" says Farve, who doesn't even have that and bristles at the idea of being allowed in his neighborhood for only 10 hours a day. "People got electricity, are already living in their house, and they're gonna LET us come down."

When the word "bulldoze" comes up, Bettie and Farve get more fired up. They have reason to. In some other parts of town, some folks wonder whether demolished homes in the 9th Ward should be rebuilt, because the community sits in a flood zone.

"That would be for a study - a good engineering study, not a political study," Walker Sullivan says.

In the Ward, those residents who want to rebuild can't imagine why others wouldn't want them to.

Jackson, Farve and Bettie all owned their homes; Farve, like the Sullivans, finished paying off the mortgage a few years ago.

"I might not have paid as much as other people, but I own mine same as they do," Farve says.

"This is home," Bettie adds.

Even with the day's work done, things are different in the two neighborhoods.

In Uptown, the Sullivans shower after toiling on their basement, then sip bourbon inside their house by candlelight. A neighbor stops to visit while walking her dog, Sam, on a leash.

The following evening, in the 9th Ward, Farve opens up the equipment trailer and takes a Budweiser from a cooler. He stands in front of what is left of his son-in-law's house, savoring the beer as the sun dips low.

But at 6:21 p.m., a National Guardsman in a Humvee pulls up and says: "It's time to leave, guys."

An informational handout with historical background will be providedICA Members FreeGeneral Public – $35.00Limited to 25 participantsAIA/CES LUs AvailableFinalized schedule and tour specifics to follow

Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical Americahttp://www.ma-ica.orgTour Coordinator: tours@ma-ica.org￼

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

A surprise call, an artist friend Keith Ferris from university, whom I haven't seen in years met me for coffee today. It was a happy meeting with a kindred soul, a gift from the universe. We recognized each other immediately. I had to laugh, because Keith said that he was afraid we wouldn't recognize each other. I answered that there is always something constant in us that we recognize in each other. We talked about the art world, marketing, creativity, blocks, community. Keith showed me slides of his new work, we told our life stories (condensed). We compared galleries and shared a little philosophy, all in the course of an hour. I took him to see my playground mural in Mid City Washington, DC. The playground was filled with children from the nearby Day Care Centers. Full sun with a brisk air added to the lovely day.

My painter friend Keith, lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter. He is wanting to take a risk to make new meaning with his art. We artists go through these evaluations of the timing to move into unexplored and risky territory. At least it feels risky to us to stand in the unknown, brave the anxiety and forge onward. At most, when we risk the unknown, we come away renewed and inspired to continue the journey of "meaning making". The word "difficult" came up regards an artist's life. I wished I had used the word courageous instead.

I am totally shocked and upset with the earthquake in the north of Pakistan. For me, this is very personal. It is so sad to see so many children lost in one community, and even now the death toll is rising, it is now 54,000 officially dead. It is sad to see people who had so little lose it all, and now spend freezing mountainous nights in the cold and starving. Secondly, even the rescue efforts can't help, the food and tents, and blankets are all stuck on the other side of the mountain, since there has been a landslide and the aid can't get to the people. Due to the bad weather, altitude, and fog, even an aid helicopter has crashed. I don't know how these people will get the help!

Focus is doing a great job in helping, and is based out of AKDN here in Toronto. Their website is: http://www.akdn.org

If you or any of your friends or clients want to donate, the best way is to mail a check to Focus Canada and mail it to Toronto. This way every $ will be matched by the Canadian Govt.

They were the first to arrive at the crises scene by helicopter, and were also covered on CNN. Of course, the disaster is sad and unable to blame anyone since its a natural disaster. May God ease the difficulties of the afflicted and be merciful in this hour of need.

I may also try to arrange for an art fundraiser here, and donate my works. All the best.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Come see what Mid City Artists are offering from their studios in the Mid City District of Washingon, DC. I will post more about Open Studios as the time draws near. In the meantime, put it on your calendar today! to come visit us on November 12 & 13 from 12-5pm.

This is a unique opportunity to see some of Washington’s most exciting artists in their ‘home environments.’ Visitors can check out the burgeoning local art scene that is finding its focus in the City’s dynamic 14th & U Street Corridor’s, and stop by some of the supporting Galleries and art related businesses that have recently opened in the neighborhood – following the artists into this upscale urban environment. For more information, addresses and a map of the studios, visit www.midcityartists.com

Friday, October 14, 2005

Sylvia White publishes a website, Art Advice, with a series of articles designed to teach artists the skills they need to manage their own careers. I enjoyed reading her advice on the business of art and I hope you will too.

The Okay, I think I'm Ready To Be A Professional Artist Checklist by Sylvia White

Artists who regularly visit this website have acquired a lot of information on how to conduct their business practices. It's not easy trying to keep track of all the activities necessary to become a working professional artist particularly since most artists are just not suited for the day-to-day practical aspects of running a business.

Please visit Sylvia White at her website, Art Advice, career management for artists; share her insights into the world of art, and find what she offers at Contemporary Artist's Services. ------------------------------------------------------------------

Anne Marchand is a contemporary abstract painter whose studio is in Washington, DC. Her paintings have the power to inspire and nourish the human spirit. You can see her works at www.annemarchand.com

As an artist, it seems that I consistently seek risktaking with new ideas, new materials, always looking for the unknown. This story adds a complementary quality that is worth developing. I like getting positive messages so I subsribe to Insight of the Day. Todays story is about calmess, a quality I wish to develop in abundance."Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom." Read more here Bob Scheinfeld's Insight of the Day

Thursday, October 13, 2005

It felt very good to go to the studio today and center myself to work on some small canvases. I remembered that the childlike joy I receive in these moments is a gift in itself. I am nudging myself back into creation. A fellow creative soul and I were talking about processes this evening. The cleaning of our studios and lives allows us to see all the collected and forgotten bits and pieces of things and how they relate to our current creations. It is vital to allow a process to incubate over time, to observe the relationships to all the pieces and to reprocess or discard the rediscovered stuff. This includes materials, color schemes, ideas, writings and other inspired saved stuff.The studio cleaning process allows us to notice the conversation that takes place between ourselves and our work over time. If we allow ourselves we can get into a free flow where we see newness in the clutter. It's another way of reconnecting to the whole of the stuff we make, From chaos to vision.

This exhibition marks the first full-scale retrospective of the art of Sam Gilliam. The most extensive presentation of the artist's career to date, it will be accompanied by a fully illustrated monograph, also a first for the artist. Featuring approximately 50 of Gilliam's paintings, elaborate mixed-media constructions and installations, A Retrospective is a celebration of a magisterial post-1960s artist, and one of the most important artists to have lived and worked in Washington, DC.

Sam Gilliam first achieved widespread acclaim in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a string of exhibitions in major museums and international art venues. Now into his fifth decade as an artist, significant examples of his work may be found in the permanent collections of almost every major US museum, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Throughout the years, Gilliam's paintings have ranged from sheer and economical evocations of color, light, and space to complex, mixed-media, and multi-dimensional sculptural conglomerations. His idea that modernist painting could be sculptural and, moreover, theatrical, radically distinguished him from his contemporaries, including minimalists Donald Judd and Robert Morris, color-field painter Helen Frankenthaler, and the artists associated with the Washington Color School, such as Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland. A Retrospective emphasizes Gilliam's many innovations while demonstrating the aesthetic ideals that have remained consistent throughout his career, most important among them his disregard for the boundaries that have traditionally separated the disciplines of painting, sculpture, and architecture.

For more than forty years now, Sam Gilliam has pursued new aesthetic experiences without regard for theoretical prescriptions, political dictates, or marketplace partiality for a singular signature style. The art he has created in the process stands as a testament to the continued vitality of abstraction in the 21st century.

Monday, October 10, 2005

The Cathedral College of Washington National Cathedral and the Insight Meditation Community of Washington are among the co-sponsors of Meditate DC, a series of meditation and contemplation events offered by a variety of faith groups during His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to Washington, DC, November 6—13. For full details, including information about open houses and workshops offered by faith communities across the DC metro area, go to www.meditatedc.org. Related events include:

Join us for a Scavenger Hunt and Party on October 15. The clues and questions will focus on the mysterious, the esoteric, and the unexpected in the metro friendly part of downtown DC. We'll have a party with entertainment that night and award prizes.

Meet: At 10am at the Dupont Circle Fountain Duration: From 11am to 4pm Cost: $15 payment to benefit Meditate DC*

*Meditate DC is a weeklong (Nov 6-13) exploration into the benefits of meditation. To learn more, see www.wbpf.org/meditatedc this is in or around Dupont Circle Fountain.

An Evening with Jack Kornfield“The Inner Art of Meditation”Monday, November 7 at 6:30 pmSmithsonian Resident AssociatesFor more information, go to .www.residentassociates.org

Mind & Life XIII: Investigating the Mind 2005“The Science and Clinical Applications of Meditation”Tuesday, November 8 to Thursday, November 10, 2005DAR Constitution HallCo-sponsored by the Mind and Life Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Georgetown University Medical Center. For more information, visit the website www.mindandlife.org

Public Talk by His Holiness the Dalai Lama“Engaged Buddhism”Sunday, November 13 at 3 pmMCI ArenaCo-sponsored by the International Campaign for Tibet and the Mind and Life Institute. For more information and tickets, visit www.dalailamadc.org

Not since the Beatles went to India has meditation had such a moment to bask in the public spotlight—and now it is with the backing of science, the buzz of a corporate America trend and the rekindling of ancient Christian contemplative practices.Over the years, the Dalai Lama has participated in dozens of scientific dialogues across the globe organized by the Mind and Life Institute, which he co-founded with its chairman, Adam Engle, and Francisco Varela. These programs examine the scientific applications of meditation and its impact on mental health, chronic illness and the cultivation of well-being. This year the Mind and Life Institute is coming to Washington and expanding its reach to include the Christian contemplative perspective.

While the conference itself is primarily for researchers and clinicians, you can hear three of its most prominent participants bring their professional and spiritual insights together in a panel discussion moderated by National Public Radio’s Lynn Neary.

Come consider psychologist Daniel Goleman’s report on the latest research on highly experienced meditation practitioners hooked up to state-of-the-art brain imaging technology, called a functional MRI.“Meditation enhances our capacity for compassion to a surprising degree neurologically, and now it’s scientifically proven,” Goleman says. It helps people learn to set aside “destructive emotions,” the title of his latest book, and instead build “the ability to empathize, along with the preparedness to help in any way possible.”

Come hear stress reduction expert Jon Kabat-Zinn’s convincing case for the way “meditation can co-exist with modern scientific views of the world without setting aside matters of the heart.”At the University of Massachusetts Medical School Kabat-Zinn has tallied “over 25 years of training medical patients and mainstream Americans in using Buddhist practices without the Buddhism as a way of catalyzing healing, growing and transforming across the lifespan.”

Come also hear Father Thomas Keating, a Cistercian monk from St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado. He will be joining the Mind and Life Institute for the first time, in keeping with his own life’s work of popularizing a Christian contemplative practice known as Centering Prayer, in which a person meditates by using a sacred word such as “shalom,” “Lord,” “Mother” or “love.”“I call it ‘divine therapy’ because it’s not just a relationship, a friendship, but it’s also a medicinal relationship,” Keating has said. “Jesus said, ‘I am a physician, and those who need a doctor should come to me.’ Contemplative prayer is really the healing of body, mind and spirit.”

Daniel Goleman is a psychologist and former New York Times science writer whose book Emotional Intelligence became an international bestseller and sparked one of the hottest trends in education and corporate America.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, a medical professor best known for his pioneering work in meditation and stress reduction, is author of such popular titles as Wherever You Go, There You Are and Full Catastrophe Living.

Fr. Thomas Keating, founder of Contemplative Outreach, Ltd., revived Christian contemplative practices, inspiring generations of present-day Christians drawn to the spiritual experiences of Eastern meditation to also look within their own tradition.

Lynn Neary is currently an arts correspondent at National Public Radio. She has been heard frequently as host and anchor on NPR’s renowned news programs and developed the network’s first religion beat.

￼Music, Pigment, Jazz, Color, these are the elements in motion and intermingled in Taking Notes; Joyful expressions on paper, canvas and plexiglass by a unique Washington, DC artist. Mr. Carter is interested in creating a world where all of our energies are handled in a positive and harmonious manner: "I love making all of the colors work together regardless where they fall on the color wheel". Stevens thinks artists should take the lead in creative pursuits to shape the world around us with their artwork. For more information www.stevensjaycarter.com

Friday, October 07, 2005

Since my solo painting exhibition "Ellipsis" is on exhibit in Sedona, AZ and my excessive workaholic painting self is taking a mini-break of sorts, I am going to redefine my art priorities for the season. It's a good time of year to do this with a fresh fall season starting. One of my goals for this year and next is to come to a better understanding of the creative process, it's ups and downs, anxieties and elations. You'd think that after so many years of artmaking, it would be easy to see how the creative process works. But no, I get just as dumbfounded and stuck as anyone and I am determined to be alert and recognize where I am at all times! In this light, I'll be posting my thoughts on this subject from time to time. Today, I received Canadian artist, Robert Genn's letter on the subject of Catharsis and getting a fresh start. Here's Robert's thoughts which reflect some of my own...

Catharsis by Robert Genn

After painting steadily for six months while doing a minimum of socializing, I gathered my accumulated works and destroyed them. Oh, maybe I kept a few of the better ones. I had made up my mind that this six months was going to be strictly about learning and experimentation. There were piles of half-finished paintings showing every touch of goofballitis that hit me. Stuff was dripped, rollered, squeegeed and scraped. Paint was on discarded doors, chunks of Styrofoam, linoleum panels and hand towels. Some paintings attempted materials and techniques that found me incompetent. Other works had occasional modest glimmerings of goodness. That happened some time ago--I was in my twenties. In those days the stuff went up in smoke. With a used Kleenex and a dead teabag I whistled my way down Broadway. I was broke, and I was running on empty.

It was a new, more spiritual me that borrowed a few bucks from a friend and started again. I had reunited with the natural world--the outdoors and the wisdom of rustic solitude. I was an "Art Spirit" convert and more than ever I was convinced of the value of craft and craftsmanship. Workmanlike in my habits, I would now try for even more joy in my workmanlike hours. I made a sign for the wall of that tiny barren studio: "Quality is always in style." It's still somewhere around this one.

A similar and more brilliant cathartic story is told in Jerry Wennstrom's book "The Inspired Heart." He tells how, in 1979, he destroyed all his work and set out on a spiritual journey to find and to rejoin his own soul. It seems to me that Jerry's book is to become one of the classics of creativity literature. Along the way he dumps his personal identity and begins to trust the Universe. It's a surrender to a greater power and a metaphorical rebirth into a more evolved person and a better artist. He lives a life receptive to intuition and intelligent self guidance. He studies under the guru who is himself. His life and his art merge into one sensible whole, and he begins a journey to his full potential.

Every artist has such a story. Some hit down harder than others. Most are less dramatic than Jerry's. The more I study our business--the more I meet with and enter into the lives of others--the more I'm convinced that for us there has to be something that might be called "character." It's not all just drawing and painting.

Best regards, Robert Genn

PS: "Your work is to discover your work--and then with all your heart to give yourself to it." (Buddha)

Esoterica: Like a small play reenacted, you can give yourself these cathartic moments. Artists are often capable of ranges of emotions and flights of drama. Untapped, you miss out on the refreshment they give. If you are aware of your mood swings, you can utilize for profit their ups and downs. After a while you get more control of their intensity and your ability to recycle the process. The artist teaches himself the skills needed to heal himself. The artist reinvents himself. Constantly. Click here for Robert Genn's The Painter's Keys

I'm always looking for insights into the art world and the marketing of good work. From my own viewpoint as an artist who has been in "the business of art" for 27 years, career building is still a priority. I know a lot of artists who are beginning their careers and trying to "make it". Of interest, is a conversation from the point of view of two New York gallery directors on selecting artists to promote and exhibit. Washington, DC is mentioned briefly. I'd like to see a similar conversation with galleries in the DC area. The article "Conversations" gives some insight into gallery considerations from two contemporary gallery directors based in New York; Don Carroll of Jack the Pelican Presents and Christian Haye of Projectile, based in Manhattan and Los Angeles. The more we find out about the working process in the gallery system, the better informed we are to make choices in our careers as artists. The article is on the NYFA Interactive news. Read it here Conversations

Fraser Gallery is offering a workshop in November for artists on career building.

Success As An Artist SeminarSunday, November 13, 2005Presented by the Fraser Gallery, this full-day seminar will be held at the Warehouse Theater, Café and Gallery, 1017 7th Street NW.Registration application and more information is online at the Fraser Gallery

Thursday, October 06, 2005

The Louisiana Division of the Arts would like to bring you up-to-date on our efforts to create a comprehensive mechanism for assisting the arts community. We are working directly with the Louisiana Partnership for the Arts and the Arts Council of New Orleans to assess the direct and indirect impact of Hurricane Katrina within our arts communities. Furthermore, we are developing a framework to cohesively address relief and recovery for artists and arts organizations throughout our state and across the nation. Please be assured we are working swiftly to create this framework and marshal all available resources for this effort.

Attached please find the link for the Louisiana Division of the Arts' "Artists' Relocation" form. Over the course of recent weeks, a great number of Louisiana's artists have been displaced throughout the country. It is because of this displacement that our current contact information database has been compromised. The information provided by our artist on this form will greatly assist the Louisiana Division of the Arts in keeping open the channels of communication and providing assistance when possible or where needed. You can forward the form to your local arts council, which can be found by clicking here. Any assistance in this area is greatly appreciated. Artist Relocation Information Form - http://www.crt.state.la.us/arts/katrinaform.htm

The Division of the Arts will be regularly updating our arts community on the relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts for Louisiana’s arts industry. A special update will be sent out every 48 –72 hours with archives located on our homepage. Until further notice, the regular Email Forum will be suspended while we are addressing the needs of all our artists, arts professionals and arts institutions.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Yes, I'm an avid fan of Donovan. A good friend just gave me his new Try for the Sun: The Journey of Donovan 3 CD set. I have been driving my car more often so I can listen to this rock icon. Top down with "Catch the Wind" playing and I remember the idealistic social rebels of yesteryear. I stopped by Govinda Gallery in Georgetown to see Donovan's new "Sapphographs". Donovan is a master poet and musician. His Happiness Runs filled my day with sweetness and nostagia that were echoed in his choice of subject for his new works on paper, Sappho. One of the great Greek lyrists and few known female poets of the ancient world, Sappho was born some time between 630 and 612 BC. In today's Washington Post Review, "The Mellow Yellow Fellow's Soft Spot for Sappho," we hear that "What resonated for Donovan was her verse, timeless in its evocations of melancholy, longing, joy. Poets like Sappho were the pop stars of their day, he said, but with a lasting legacy." Donovan's processes thru photography, xerox, computer work and lithography transform his dramatic Black and White figures into mythic images. A must see exhibition by our modern day mythic poet, Donovan! The exhibition runs trhough November 12, 2005

I also visited the newly remodeled contemporary District Fine Arts at 1726 Wisconsin Ave. NW where artists Mike Weber, Connie Fleres, Amr Mounib are three of the artists showing in "The Art Collective Expo." As the gallery owner states, "This exhibit marks the dawning of a new era at District Fine Arts, as we tip our hats to a rich history in art and embark into a new age of exquisite new art, excellence in design, impeccable frames and the joy of your company! - Elyse, Tim, Steve and Amr. Sculpture and Encautic paintings by Connie Fleres, Abstract Compositions by Mike Weber and Black and White Photographs by Amr Mounib. Ask to see his color photos too. Other exhibiting artists: Tone Rawlins, Brian Banner, Duarte and many more...